Every Rose Has It's Thorn
by XxTerrorOfTheSkiesxX
Summary: Gumball and the gang are in their Junior year of high school. Budding relationships and freshly made enemies promise plenty of problems for those involved. Even the good thing can end up taking a turn for the worst. But I guess that is why they say every rose has it's thorn. Summary is complete Garbage. Will work on that. Gumball x Carrie.


**Hey what's up guys. Welcome to Every Rose Has It's Thorn. This chapter is gonna suck to write as I have to introduce a bunch of characters. At least basics. Ugh. Oh well, Have a read, Notice some errors, and Let me know through review or PM. If you have questions about why I did something, PM me. I will answer. If enough people ask me the same question, I will simply address said question in an AN.**

Gumball Watterson slept peacefully in his and his brothers room. A small room with a single window, a bunk bed in the corner with a small bedside table the held a goldfish bowl. On the other side of the room a small desk with some paper and a computer on it sat under where the window was.

Gumball, a 16 year old blue cat, awoke to the sound of his alarm, that wretched noise that no normal person could sleep through. Gumball groaned as he attempted to hit the clock that rested on the bedside table. The noise would not cease no matter how hard Gumballs fist came down upon it; inclining Gumball to grab the clock and blindly throw it across the room. His throw ended up hitting the goldfish bowl that his adoptive brother and best friend, Darwin slept in. Darwin woke with a jolt at the shattering of his bowl. The fish jumped down of the table and looked Gumball's way, irritation evident on the normally calm orange fish's face.

"Gumball!" Darwin shouted at his brother, who remained in bed, " What was that for?!"

"No… Five more… Minutes..." Gumball groaned half asleep. Darwin strode into the hall and came back with a bowl of ice water, which he proceeded to pour on the barely awake cat.

"Aah! What the hell?!" Gumball shouted as the cold water soaked into his fur, chilling the fur beneath.

"You broke my bowl! All because you didn't want to get up! Can't you just get up and shut the clock off like normal people?!" Darwin shouted. Gumball gave him a blank look before he answered.

"Well you didn't get up and shut it off either, so how does this justify you pouring water on me? Also, we can get you another bowl almost effortlessly." Gumball stated while he tried to wring the water out of his fur.

"That's not the point!" Darwin argued back.

"Then what is?" Gumball's question threw Darwin off, and he started stuttering.

"Um… uh… We-" Darwin looked left to right looking for something to say, but stopped when he found nothing. Gumball sighed.

"Come on dude, we have to get ready. Mom is gonna be pissed if we miss the bus again." Gumball told Darwin as he walked towards the bedside table and crouched down to the drawers below, avoiding the waterlogged carpet it now stood on. Gumball grabbed some clothes and left the room towards the bathroom. Gumball no longer wore the sweater he wore for so many years. He wore a simple white shirt that had the words 'with dark blue jeans and a black collared jacket; He still preferred to go shoeless soon followed suit, grabbing his iconic green shoes.

Later the two brothers walked down the stairs into the living room. A couch sat in the middle of the room, with a coffee table in front of it, and a Television against the wall. A large window sat the left of the couch and towards the right were the Dining Room and the Kitchen. Gumball and Darwin were greeted by their mother, a middle aged blue cat like Gumball, named Nichole. Nichole was dressed in her Rainbow Factory uniform, getting ready to head out to work. A small pink rabbit, Anais, Gumball's sister, stood next to the couch attempting to rouse the figure that slept on the couch, Gumball's father, a large pink rabbit named Richard. This was normal for the Watterson household, so this was a rather uneventful morning. Gumball and Darwin ate breakfast, Pancakes and one sausage.

"Sorry you two, there would be more sausage, but Richard ate most of them last night." Nicole sighed. A frown on her face as she glanced at the sleeping guy on the couch. She shook her head and smiled before turning to Darwin.

"Your coat is by the door, don't forget! It is unnaturally cold today." It was near the end of fall, but it was 44 degrees outside this morning, which was peculiar as late fall temperatures in Elmore were usually around 60.

Gumball and Darwin finished their breakfast and started for the door. Richard was stretching by the couch, having finally woken himself up. He fixed his gaze on the two.

"So are you off boys?" Richard questioned, curiosity behind his sudden question.

"We are Mr. Dad, we will see you all after school!" Darwin told him as he grabbed his coat that rested on a rack beside the door and followed Gumball out. Darwin immediately put the coat on and Gumball and him started walking towards the bus stop a few blocks away.

"Sorry about this morning dude. I didn't mean to break your bowl this morning." Gumball looked at Darwin with an apologetic gaze. Darwin smiled, and shook his head.

"No it really isn't a problem. Like you said, we can get another one. It happens." Gumball nodded and a small smile crossed his face. The chilly wind blew and shot down his neck, and his smile disappeared. Gumball grabbed his collar and turned it up against the wind, hoping to retain as much body heat as he could. Gumballs thoughts started to wander, hoping to distract him from the temperature. Gumball was shaken from his daydreaming when Darwin tapped him and pointed to the bus stop ahead, as if to warn him. Gumball looked up and saw the very person he considered the apple of his eye, his 'one true love.' Penny Fitzgerald. A yellow creature that could morph shapes based on emotions. They had started dating back near the end of middle school and Gumball couldn't be happier. Gumball quickly walked up to her, a smile plastered on his face.

"Hi Penny!" Gumball exclaimed, his eyes turning into hearts. Penny smiled back and waved. Gumballs hastened his pace only to trip and fall on his face. Penny only giggled at him. Tobias, a rainbow creature that was only just arriving to the stop; only rolled his eyes from the distance as Gumball got himself up, dusted himself off, and started a conversation with Penny. Tobias had not changed much, except for the fact that he was taller and now a star athlete in Elmore High.

More people from Gumball's general neighborhood arrived, Carrie, Tobias, Bobert, Jamie, Banana Joe, and Anton. Carrie, a ghost and a good friend of Gumball and Darwin, was off on her own being the goth kind of girl she is. She had not changed much, she was only taller, and her hair was longer; She still has her trademark skull clip in her hair. Bobert was always the same, as was Joe and Anton; Jamie, however had grown quite bit over the years. She had grown taller, bigger and her horns were longer. Gumball himself had an explosion of height, now standing at 5'9, with Darwin being just a couple inches shorter.

Conversations were cut short as the bus arrived. Gumball's stop was the first one to get on in the morning, so Gumball and Darwin could always get the seat they wanted. They sat in the back on the passenger side, in the seat to the left Carrie sat with her headphones on, music blaring. Gumball, Carrie, and Darwin were very good friends, getting into all sorts of misadventures and troubles together. There were those couple of times that Gumball let her use his body to eat, which always resulted in a rampage where the only goal seemed to be to eat as much as possible. Even eating objects such as a flip-flop. There was also the time where they went to the coolest party they ever had been too. Not to mention more recently, scamming everyone of candy, using Carrie's ghost powers to trick everyone into believing some evil entity named Gargaroth was causing the supernatural disturbances that Carrie was behind, and only Gumball and Darwin could stop him. They eventually accidentally summoned the creature and had to give the hundreds of pounds of candy they scammed to quell it. That was a few years ago, back in middle school.

Music sounded like a good idea to pass the 20 minute ride to collect everyone who went to Elmore High. Gumball took his phone out of his pocket and plugged in his earbuds into the headphone jack. Scrolling through his playlist, he found a song to start with, Tom Petty's, 'Last Dance with Mary Jane." Gumball reclined in the bus as the bus took a right turn. Gumball closed his eyes and tried to relax.

When Gumball opened them, the bus was full and Elmore High was in the distance. Carrie had the right idea; music is a fantastic way to pass time. Gumball removed the earphones, and he and Darwin collected what few belongings they carried with them as they approached the school. The students of Elmore High filed off the bus and headed to their first class.

Chemistry. With everyone's least favorite teacher, an ancient ape called Mrs. Simian. Gumball's teacher throughout middle school; he was not on good terms with her, nor was anyone else for that matter. Gumball disliked school, but the worse part of it was dealing with this teacher. Mrs. Simian not only taught Chemistry, but also Algebra, History, and English. Most people someone asked would quickly agree without much thought. Gumball pretty much received detention every day due to this teacher, even if he had done nothing wrong. She seemed to have a special dislike of him especially in recent years. Luckily, Gumball found a way to make the most of the situation, despite odds your average person you simply give up if faced with.

Gumball and everybody else filed in and sat in their seats. Gumball sat near the front next to Darwin. Mrs. Simian rose from her chair and began to speak in her raspy voice.

"Today we will be starting projects in each class you have me in, so four projects will be done at the same time. It may seem overwhelming because it is! Every part of this project is to be done as homework!" Every one groaned before Mrs. Simian resumed speaking.

"We will work in partners of two," Gumball smiled and glanced over at Penny who smiled back. Simian must have noticed and a glint sparked in her eye for a moment.

"That I will choose."

Gumball's smile immediately disappeared. It didn't take a genius to realize he was not going to be paired with Penny. Mrs. Simian noticed this and amusement crossed her face for a moment. She started naming the pairs that were to be working together for the next couple of weeks on four individual projects. Gumball really didn't mind who everyone else was partnered with. The only ones he listened out for was himself, Penny, and Darwin. Darwin ended up being partnered up with Banana Joe, and Penny ended up being partnered with Tobias, much to Gumball's disappointment. He couldn't help but notice a bit of happiness emanating off of her, but Gumball simple dismissed it as Penny being glad she wasn't with someone like Tina the T-rex, and school bully. Mrs. Simian rattled on, but eventually finished. What about him?

"Um, Mrs. Simian?" Gumball spoke up. Mrs. Simian turned on a dime and screamed at him.

"What Watterson?!" Gumball didn't flinch, but continued to speak.

"I don't have a partner." He stated. A surprised look crossed the old ape's face and she mumbled to herself. It seemed Gumball was correct.

"Everyone get with your partner and line up!" She screeched. People scurried against the wall and looked around at those remaining. Gumball of course, and, in the back, Carrie. She sat with her headphones on, staring out the window. Mrs. Simian looked at her list and noticed the ghost was not on it. The ape strode over to Carrie's desk and slammed her fists down on the desk, startling Carrie, getting her attention.

"I didn't call your name. I must have forgotten about you. Oh how I wish I could forget everyone else in this room." Mrs. Simian rattled on about how every student was terrible and was destined to fail at anything they attempted. She screamed at the standing students to sit down, and they all hurried to sit down to avoid invoking the ape's wrath.

Gumball had tuned out Mrs. Simian, and was daydreaming about Penny when a paper hit the back of his head. He looked behind him to identify the culprit. Carrie looked at him and flipped her hair. He grabbed it and unfolded it. In black ink, the words, 'What are we partners for?' were scribbled across the crumpled, torn paper. Gumball wrote, 'A series of dumb projects. We have 4 to do, one for each class ape thing teaches. And to top it all off, it has to all be done as homework.' Gumball crumpled the paper back up and threw it back to her. A little while later it came back with the words, 'Really? That sucks. Well, I could have done worse on a partner I guess.' Gumball smirked and wrote below that, 'Haha, very funny.' Gumball turned and went to throw it, however, Mrs. Simian jumped out of nowhere and tried to catch it. Mrs. Simian immediately turned and got in Gumball's face.

"Passing notes? In my class nonetheless?!" The ape screamed, "Do you have anything to say for yourself before I assign you detention?! Not that that would change anything?!" Gumball smirked, talk about setting it up perfectly for him.

"Yes, this'll be the only thing I can say as the smell of dead, rotting things is breathing on my face. It will probably suffocate me if it keeps it up." Gumball commented with a smirk. Anger flashed in her eyes. Darwin chuckled and Carrie laughed.

"DETENTION WATTERSON!" Mrs. Simian screamed. In her fit of anger, she failed to notice Darwin's quiet laugh, but she did however, hear Carrie. "You as well Kruegar; since you find so much comedic value in it!" Gumball had to resist the temptation to comment something about her volume, and the many glass objects spread throughout the room. His insults were not great, but they did the job. Mrs. Simian calmed down and went to explaining the project, taking plenty of opportunities to shoot Gumball a death glare.

"The science portion involves each group to perform an experiment that changes the chemical composition of something. The math portion will be a joint, 20 page research paper on a famous mathematician. English will require you to write a short biography about your partner. History will be similar to the math portion, but a famous event instead of a person." The sound of groans filled the room as the bell rang. Gumball exited the room and started down the hallway, Carrie came up on his right, and Darwin on his left, both wore a frown upon their face.

"This is stupid. That's a lot of junk to do for little to no reason." Darwin complained. Gumball and Carrie nodded in agreement. Carrie departed to make it to her next class, and Gumball was stopped by Penny in the hallway, a strange look in her eye that Gumball could not place. Darwin stopped and looked at Gumball, who just waved him on. Gumball turned back to Penny as she started to speak.

"It sucks we didn't get to be partners together." She said, her hands behind her back, twiddling with her thumbs.

"Yeah, but at least we didn't get worse partners. "Gumball said optimistically. Penny only nodded and glanced up at the clock that rested on the wall in the hallway.

"Oh shoot. I have to go, class." Penny said before darting off to make it on time to her next class. She stopped and turned into a room just a little bit down the hall. Gumball only stood there, trying to process what just happened. He himself glanced up at the clock and took note of the time. The clock read 9:31, Why did Penny dart off so quick then? She still had four minutes left before the second bell rang. Gumball simply dismissed it as her wanting to get a head start on her work. She was like that at times. No matter what he told himself, he could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. Gumball starting walking down the hall towards his next class, Psychology with Mr. Small. Mr. Small a cloud man that could not be described as accurately with any other word than 'hippie.'

Gumball opened the door to the small office, and a strange smell greeted his nose. Smoke hung suspended in the air. The smell of this room always gave him a headache, but there was no way to avoid it. Mr. Small sat in a meditative pose, eyes closed and mumbling something about uplifting his spirit to achieve 'complete enlightenment.' Gumball ended up tripping and falling into a metal cabinet. Mr. Small shouted as he opened his eyes and jumped up.

"Oh, it's just you Gumball. You gave me a fright right there." Mr. Small chuckled and reached out his hand to help Gumball up. Gumball grabbed his hand and accepted his help. Gumball thanked him and turned to go to his desk until Mr. Small grabbed his wrist.

"Hold on Gumball, turn around, let me see your head." Mr. Small commanded the blue cat. Gumball simply gave him a weird look, but turned and faced him anyway. A concerned look crossed Mr. Small's face as her inspected Gumball's forehead. Gumball reached his hand above his right brow and the spot was wet.

"You must have hit your head pretty hard when you fell into that cabinet. Where are you at right now?" Gumball opened his mouth to speak, but faltered for a moment before he answered.

"School, Psychology." Mr. Small held his finger in front of Gumballs face and moved it left to right, up then down.

"I am going to bring you to the nurse to get this cleaned up and to get you checked." Mr. Small stated.

Gumball was escorted down the hall to a door that was decorated with a red cross. Mr. Small opened the door and we walked inside. Two hospital beds sat on opposite sides of the room, a couple desks were scattered around and held multiple ornamentally objects. A band aid nurse walked out from the side door in the room, Mr. Small then explained what had happened. The nurse half frowned before beckoning Gumball to sit on one of the beds. Mr. Small took his leave as she went to work on the gash in Gumballs forehead. Once it was bandaged, the nurse went through the same procedure as Mr. Small had done before. Gumball ended up spending until lunch in the nurse's office, trying to convince her that he did not possess a concussion. Apparently new rules were implemented into the school systems this year that required nurses to be positive that a student did not have a concussion before sending them back to class.

Gumball walked to lunch and entered the lunch room. Conversations stopped for a moment and silence overtook the room. All eyes were fixed on Gumball, and he realized, he had been in class for Chemistry, but not for Math and English. People started to connect the dots and slowly went back to eating and talking to friends as before. Gumball released a breath he wasn't aware he was holding. Grabbing a tray, he made his way towards where Darwin was sitting. Gumball noticed Penny was sitting at another table with Tobias, Masami, a rich and snobby cloud girl, and some other cheerleaders. Gumball shrugged, he didn't need to spend every moment with her, space was needed regardless how close people were. Gumball sat with his brother and Darwin couldn't help but ask about the bandages on his brothers head.

"Woah. Gumball what happened?" Gumball opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.

"What's up guys?" Carrie flipped her hair and sat down with the two. "What happened to you? Get into a fight you couldn't win?" she asked with a smirk. Darwin smirked at her joke, and Gumball shook his head.

"Haha, very funny," He stated, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I fell into a metal cabinet in Mr. Small's room. Did I miss anything important?"

"No dude, Mrs. Simian only talked about that project, and then shouted at some people for a while." Darwin answered, Gumball laughed in response.

"Sounds about right." The three laughed and joked all through lunch. When the bell rang Gumball and Darwin dumped their trays and the three left. Gumball offered to let Carrie eat, but she said she wasn't hungry. The three walked to their next class, Gym. One of Gumball's favorite classes; this was not the case in middle school, but, over the years, he had come to enjoy most physical activities. They walked through the swinging door and headed to the locker rooms to change. Once they were done, they sat down in the bleachers.

Coach, a very large cubical creature with a gruff voice, who has been mistaken for a man on several occasions, walked in front of the class.

"Today, you will play dodgeball. You will be evenly divided into two teams. Ten balls will be placed on the middle line. You all know the rules, but I will repeat them for those who do not. Get hit you are out, catch a ball and the thrower is out, can only hold two balls at one time, you can block a thrown ball with a ball you are holding, now let's get going." Coach informed the students as half listened intently, eager to play. Some were not so enthusiastic, Darwin being one of them.

"Come on dude, it'll be fun! Get into a competitive spirit!" Gumball encouraged the orange fish as Carrie floated over to the two conversing brothers. Darwin looked at Gumball and a glint sparked in his eye. A smirk grew across Darwin's face and he nodded. Carrie looked between the two and flashed a toothy grin. The three turned towards Coach as she began to name the teams.

"Team one, Gumball, Banana Joe, Carrie, Darwin, Alan, Carmen, Team two, Tobias, Tina, Jamie, Penny, Masami, Sara. Get with your team. You have ten seconds."

Gumball groaned, the teams seemed stacked against them. Gumball didn't care however, he wasn't the same cat he was back in middle school. The team members lined up against the opposite end, readying themselves to dash towards the middle to retrieve a ball. Gumball got down into a starting position. He may not be the fastest, but he was quick when he needed. Gumball took a moment to size up the opposition. Jamie and Tobias were the main threats, Tina was strong, but she was a large target, and her small arms made it extremely difficult to catch an oncoming ball. Tina was in the far left corner, but Gumball was on the right. Gumball turned towards Darwin to inform him of his plan. Gumball whispered in Darwin's ear and the orange fish whispered down the line of team one. They all turned to Gumball and nodded.

The whistle went off and Gumball took off diagonally towards the other side of the field, towards the line. He dived towards a ball and jumped back, Tina only a few meters away. He backed up and glanced at his team. Darwin had grabbed a ball, as well as Joe. Gumball ran up to the line and threw the ball directly at Tina, who attempted to catch it, but ended up failing. Jamie stepped up and chucked a ball at Gumball, who dived backwards to avoid getting hit.

The game went on, eventually coming down to Gumball, against Jamie and Tobias. Even Carrie somehow ended up getting hit. Darwin was the latest one to get hit, Jamie threw a ball and Darwin was focused on throwing the one he had at Tobias. Tobias caught it as Darwin was smacked upside the head with Jamie's ball.

"You're going to lose! Just give it up!" Jamie shouted at Gumball as another ball came his way. Gumball effortlessly dodged it as he planned his next move, trying to be patient until an opportunity presented itself. Gumball saw his chance, Jamie had thrown a ball at him and, for whatever reason, was softer than it usually was. Gumball grabbed a ball of the ground and reached out his right paw to catch the flying. The ball connected with his paw and he closed his around it, catching it. Tobias had thrown just a little bit after Jamie, so Gumball quickly turned and blocked the ball. Gumball jumped and spun, releasing the balls he had previously held in his grip. The two balls hit Tobias in the chest and the leg, ensuring he was out. Gumball stood in the middle of the field, a smile on his face. Tobias glared at the blue cat.

"You won't ever beat me ever again." Tobias spat at Gumball as he walked into the locker room to change.

The day went on as normal from that point. Classes, teachers, work, basic school. The final bell rung and most of the student ran outside, happy to be free for the rest of the day. Gumball and Carrie however, had detention, much to their disappointment. The two talked as they headed towards the room detention was held in.

"Man this sucks. I had completely forgot about this!" Gumball complained. Carrie nodded.

"Yeah, but what you told Mrs. Simian was pretty funny. It was totally worth it." Gumball laughed.

"Yeah, yeah it was."

The two arrived at detention, which was being held by Principal Brown. A hair covered wookie like creature. As the two entered Principal Brown gave them a single piece of paper. They were instructed to complete the work on the paper, and then they were free to go. The sheet contained complex math problems. Or as least they would be complex in the two were still in 4th grade. Gumball looked over at Brown's desk and noticed a pile of sheets with more complex math, something he said nothing about.

"X+4=9 Solve for X." Gumball read quietly to Carrie, who snickered.

"We got lucky, we can be through this in no time."

Carrie and Gumball took about 15 minutes to get through all 100 problems. Once they had given the two sheets to Principal Brown, the two left to collect their things before heading home. Children grumbled in the corner, saying things about being stupid and difficult. Principal Brown looked down on his desk and realized his mistake.

"Oh."

Gumball and Carrie walked down the hallway, towards their lockers. Gumball and Carrie's lockers were in the same hallway, only a couple lockers separating them. As Gumball opened his locker, he went to put his textbooks away, only to realize he didn't have it with him. Gumball facepalmed and looked over to Carrie.

"He I think I forgot my textbook in Mrs. Simians. I'll be right back." He shouted as he darted off. Turning the corner, Gumball darted down the hallway, on the way to the room he thought he left his books in. He soon came upon the door that led to the room he was in this morning. Reaching out to turn the knob, he opened the door, only to be overtaken by shock by what was before. Tobias and Penny, were kissing in the corner of the room.

Hearing the door creak open, the two jumped apart. Penny looked at Gumball with a shocked expression. Tears welling up in the cat's eyes.

"W-wait Gu-Gumball I can e-explain!" Penny stuttered, panicked, and out of breath. Tears streamed down Gumball's face as he turned and ran as fast as he could back the way he came.

Carrie floated towards Gumball's still open locker.

"Where is that cat? What's taking so long?" Carrie heard the pattering of feet, quickly growing in volume as the source got closer. But there was something else rather than the noise of someone running. Were those, sobs?

Carrie was quickly pulled out of her thoughts as Gumball ran past her, crying. Carrie, startled, took a second to regain herself, but shook off her shock, and called after him.

"Gumball! Wait!" She yelled as she chased after him.

 **Well there it is. I am not actually upset with this as I thought I would be. I am also proud of the length. 4.8k words in one chapter? If I can keep that up, that would be nice length. Any who, Leave a review critiquing me, or PM it, It really does help. Thanks guys,**

 **XxTerrorOfTheSkiesxX**


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